During the “Exploring the Impact of Contemplative Practices on Self and Students” retreat last week at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute — which, incidentally, was a fabulous space for the retreat — faculty from GVSU and FSU worked together to gain consensus on the meanings of couple of words. I provide here a few of the definitions of “mindfulness” that were proposed:

>> Non-attached;
>> Attention and awareness to the present moment without judgment;
>> Full awareness of the present moment;
>> Paying attention in the present moment without judgment; and
>> Deliberate awareness of the moment without judgment.

We held our final session of the “Exploring the Intersections of Mindfulness, Contemplative Practices, and Reflective Teaching” on Saturday, May 4. It was a beautiful Spring day in Eastown, Grand Rapids, where we met at the Withered Tree

Our sincere thanks to Karen for sharing the space with us! Thanks, too, to Clare and Carol for leading the contemplative practices for the group. The conversation, naturally, was rich, engaging, and thoughtful. A few videos and an upcoming event were mentioned during the conversation. I provide links here to those things:

The Journal of Contemplative Inquiry is a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal for all those who design, research, teach, and assess contemplative and introspective methods and practices in college and university settings. Contemplative and introspective practices cultivate a critical, first-person focus and create new opportunities for students to engage with course material. The Journal promotes the understanding, development, and application of these methods in order to serve a vision of higher education as an opportunity for cultivating personal and social awareness and an exploration of meaning, purpose and values.

My thanks again to everyone who was present on Saturday for our last meeting together this semester; thank you for making time and contributing to the experience.

I was catching up on my e-mail this evening when I read about a free webinar featuring Jack Kornield, Ph.D. that is scheduled for tomorrow (GASP!), March 14, 2013. I can’t vouch for this particular webinar, but thought I’d let y’all know about it nevertheless. It is scheduled for 3 PM (I provide a link to the webinar below).

About thewebinar:Jack Kornfield will discuss (with a few comments of mine added):

What to do when your mindfulness practice falls into a rut (That’s familiar!)

How to help a client who is hesitant about meditation (Business metaphor aside,a student?)

Working with highly analytical clients (I know people like this. Self included.)

How mindfulness practice can open up possibilities in your work (Very cool.)

Jack Kornfield, Ph.D., is a psychologist and an author, and one of the teachers who introduced mindfulness practice and Vipassana meditation to the West. Learn more about Jack Kornfield at: http://www.jackkornfield.com